Secretive equity firm to sell Bushmaster stake

Secretive equity firm to sell Bushmaster stake

A secretive Manhattan financier whose private equity firm owns the gunmaking Goliath that produces Bushmaster rifles put the armsmaker on the block Tuesday after the tragedy in Newtown struck too close to home.

Cerberus Capital Management founder Stephen Feinberg’s father lives in the Connecticut town where 26 schoolkids and staffers were slaughtered with a Bushmaster â€" and the dad, Martin Feinberg, said the massacre was “devastating.”

Neither Feinberg was mentioned in the Cerberus announcement that it hopes to sell the gunmaker Freedom Group, which includes Bushmaster â€" and is worth $ 1 billion, experts said.

Instead, Cerberus said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the tragedy but insisted the gunmaker bore no responsibility.

“We do not believe that Freedom Group or any single company or individual can prevent senseless violence or the illegal use or procurement of firearms and ammunition,” Cerberus said.

Still, “the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level,” the statement read.

And Cerberus wants no part of it.

“We are investors, not statesmen or policymakers,” Cerberus said.

Selling Freedom Group “allows us to meet our obligations to the investors whose interests we are entrusted to protect without being drawn into the national debate.”

That “debate” was set to literally hit home for Feinberg, as gun control advocates were planning a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Wednesday outside his palatial townhouse on E. 67th St.

A woman at the house identified herself as the “housekeeper” and said Feinberg lives most of the time on his estate in Greenwich, Conn.

That is no surprise â€" Feinberg, a 52-year-old married father of three daughters, reportedly puts a premium on privacy.

Feinberg is an avid sportsman who hunts regularly on the weekends armed with a Remington Model 700 and prefers tooling around in a pickup truck to riding in a limo.

The Bronx-born son of a steel salesman, Feinberg is also a big-time contributor to the Republican party, having given more than $ 600,000 to various GOP candidates â€" from Rudy Giuliani to Mitt Romney â€" and groups, records show. 

Feinberg has also doled out campaign cash to independents like Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman ($ 2,000) and Democrats like New York Sen. Chuck Schumer ($ 2,000), records show. 

Feinberg also employs former GOP Vice President Dan Quayle, whose Cerberus title is chairman of global investments. And he contributed about $ 10,000 to the congressional campaign of Quayle’s son, Ben.

Also on the Cerberus payroll is another high-powered Republican â€" John Snow, Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush.

Feinberg made the move to unload Freedom Group after a major investor, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, said that Friday’s shootings forced it to review its $ 751.4 million investment with his equity firm.

Following California’s lead, New York’s state and city pension fund systems are also reviewing their investments in gun companies â€" with an eye to possibly divesting.

The city holds nearly $ 18 million worth of stock in gunmakers Smith & Wesson, Forjas Taurus, Olin Corp., and Sturm Ruger.

The state holds $ 11.9 million worth of stock in Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger and Alliant Techsystems.

Cerberus has a wide portfolio that includes the Albertson’s grocery chain; automaker Chrysler; and movie distribution company Spyglass Entertainment.

It bought the Bushmaster company in 2006 and merged it with gunmakers Remington and DPMS to create Freedom Group.

That was a moneymaker, earning $ 565 million last year and reporting net sales of $ 677 million for the nine months of this bloody year.

The Bushmaster AR-15, which was used in the Newtown massacre, is an extremely popular rifle. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann calls it her “favorite gun.” At Cabela’s, an outdoor supply store, it starts at $ 729.99.

Stocks in gun companies were down Tuesday, but experts expect a spike in sales.

“Consumers will be fearful of gun regulation,” said Kevin Cassidy, a senior credit officer at Moody’s. “They will try to buy before the regulation hits.”

Cerberus, which gets its name from the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell in Greek mythology, is not the only Wall Street outfit that invests in guns.

Sciens Capital Management, a fund advised by the Blackstone Group, owns Colt Defense. And the private equity firm MidOcean Partners, controls Bushnell Outdoor Products, which makes gun gear like laser scopes and ammo magazines.

With Kenneth Lovett and Elizabeth Lazarowitz

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com